*Rated 12 for a scene of mild violence
Icefire, part eight
Queen Saron left the throne room, pleased that she had successfully assembled the troops in such a short time. Now all that remained was to ride forth and attack. Timing, brutality, and the element of surprise were going to be their greatest advantages. She passed a room with a bolted wooden door and hesitated. Then she knocked on the door twice and waited. There was no response, as was to be expected. The girl was most likely moping from the lecture she had received.
“Amber, open the door now!” the queen ordered loudly. Still, there was no reply, and when the door did not open, the queen felt her temper rising. “Open it now, on pain of death!” she cried, and still there was no answer.
Queen Saron drew out a dagger and wedged it between the door and the frame, pushing with all her might until the door suddenly snapped open. The queen entered and her eyes blazed as they met an empty room. This was unusual; perhaps the girl was hiding somewhere in the castle. Saron shrugged and left, but something nagged at her mind, telling her that Amber was up to no good.
“Your Highness?” an official asked, timorously advancing. “P-please, the troops are waiting for you in the courtyard.”
“Go to the stables and tell me whether the steed called Flame is there,” Queen Saron ordered.
The man blinked in surprise and bowed. “Y-yes, Your Highness,” he said before scampering away.
Saron sighed and made her way down the stairs and out of the castle keep, where her men were, indeed, waiting. She took the belt that a courtier handed to her and strapped it around her waist, taking a vicious pleasure in drawing out her sword and letting the sunlight reflect off the golden blade, giving it a reddish glow as if drenched in blood.
The official who had approached her in the castle came up to her. “Your Highness, I inquired, but the stable hands were unable to find any trace of a steed by the name of Flame.”
“So she is gone,” Queen Saron hissed.
“Wh-what?” the official asked, thinking she was talking to him.
“Silence!” the queen roared, and whipped the blade in a lightning fast swipe. The man’s head severed from his body and both fell to the ground with a thump and a light splat. Saron complacently wiped the blood from her blade onto her dress, making a large dark red stain on her satin skirt. “Clean it up,” she ordered to a timorous servant, jerking her head in the direction of the body.
She looked up to face her army, reveling in the intimidated expressions of the men before her. Raising her sword, she yelled, “To war, Fiamal! To war! Leave no person alive!”
The men took up the call, the horns were sounded, the gates raised, and they started off.
~~~~~
Lynn, Amber, and Peter stood in front of the old man, who frowned at them.
“Well?” he said. “You asked about the Gem, I told you everything I know!”
“Yes, and we appreciate that,” Lynn said hastily. “But just where exactly is it?”
“All I know is that it’s located somewhere in the Velken Mountain. Now why don’t you three run off?”
“Thank you, sir, your information has been most invaluable,” Peter said, making his obeisance to the man, who turned away with a mumble and a slightly mollified look.
“Let’s go,” Lynn said, leaving the small hut and walking rapidly down the street. Peter kept pace with him and they reached the inn, where Lynn brought Snowflurry out while Peter brought out a dapple-gray gelding. Amber got her chestnut palfrey from wherever she had left him before, and waited as the boys quickly tacked the horses up. They mounted and Peter led the way out of the castle’s walls and through the small village that surrounded the walls. As they came into the open country, they urged their horses in a trot. Lynn wished he could canter or even gallop, but they needed their horses, and they couldn’t risk expending their energy too much in the beginning.
“So Peter,” Lynn called. “I thought you said that no one knew where the Gem is. How could that be if he knows about it?”
Peter blushed. “Well, I suppose I was exaggerating,” he admitted. “But really, hardly anyone else knows about it, not even the queen.”
“So I noticed,” Lynn murmured to himself.
They rode on in silence for a while, through the barren land surrounding the lonely Velken Mountain that once used to be an active volcano but had been dormant for almost a century.
“Well,” Amber said. “We’re almost there.”
And they were. The mountain rose up large and looming as they trotted up to it. When they reached the base, they swung off their horses.
“Tie your horse onto my pommel,” Lynn said to Peter. “Snowflurry won’t leave, she’s been trained.” Peter quickly passed a length of rope through the bit of his horse and tied the other end onto Snowflurry’s saddle, then joined Lynn as he started his ascent up the mountainside. Amber was already ahead of them.
“How far up are we going?” Peter panted.
“There’s supposed to be an opening somewhere along here,” Amber replied, stepping onto a small ledge. “And here it is!”
The boys quickly finished climbing and came up next to her. A small dark hole was the opening, barely tall enough for them to go through standing up straight.
“Come on,” Amber said, leading the way.
“I can’t see very well in this light,” Peter complained.
“There’s nothing to be afr—” Amber’s voice was cut off by a small yelp of surprise and a splash. Lynn, who was right behind her, only saw her reddish hair disappear before he found himself falling into a body of water. Something hard hit his head, and he guessed it was Peter’s foot after him. Kicking free from the spot, he came up to the surface, spluttering.
“Peter!” he called, and heard another splashing behind him.
“Right here,” the other boy said. “Where’s Amber?”
Lynn looked around in the dim lighting, but couldn’t find her either on land or at least with her head above the surface of the small pool they were in. “Amber!” he yelled.
Taking a deep breath, he dived down, letting his eyes adjust to the water. He saw a wave of red and struck towards it. As he got closer, he could see that her long red hair was gently swaying under the water, and she was weakly trying to climb upwards.
Lynn reached his hand out and grabbed her arm, dragging her after him to the surface. Once their heads emerged, she took a long, shuddery breath and started to cough. He helped her along to dry land and she lay on the ground with a shaky sigh. Peter came over and sat next to them.
“That was very impressive, Lynn,” he remarked.
Lynn took no notice of him, however. He slipped his arm underneath her neck and gently propped her up into a sitting position. “Are you all right?” he asked, brushing her wet strands of hair away from her face.
She opened her eyes and nodded. “Thank you, Lynn,” she said, attempting to rise.
“Of course,” he replied, helping her sit up all the way.
Peter was watching them both with an impish grin. “How sweet!” he cackled, and Lynn shoved him over back into the water.
Amber got to her feet and started wringing out her hair, paying no attention to the spluttering Peter who emerged from the water. “Come on boys,” she said. “We don’t have a lot of time to waste. Queen Saron’s not one for waiting when it comes to war.”
“Then let’s go,” Lynn said, standing up and starting off, Amber beside him.
“Hey! Wait!” Peter called, scrambling after the other two. He marveled at how easily they were able to spring back into action. It certainly wasn’t something he could do.
“Hurry up,” Lynn said, walking faster. Amber kept pace with him, their footsteps making echoes on the cave walls.
“We’re almost there, I think,” Lynn murmured.
My only complaint is that you may want to fix some sentences in your story; they can be awkward and a little confusing. Other than that, great story, and I can`t wait to read more. P.S. You have a nice vocubulary, and your spelling was perfect.
